Cancer News

Short Time to First Cigarette Ups Head and Neck Cancer Risk

Monday, August 8, 2011 (Last Updated: 08/09/2011)

MONDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking the first cigarette of the day within 60 minutes of waking increases the risk of head and neck cancer and of lung cancer, according to two studies published online Aug. 8 in Cancer.

Joshua E. Muscat, Ph.D., from the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, and colleagues investigated the association between time to first cigarette (TTFC) after waking and the risk of head and neck cancer among 1,055 patients and 795 controls with a history of smoking. The pack-adjusted odds ratio (OR) was higher for those who had their first cigarette one to 31 minutes after waking and 31 to 60 minutes after waking compared to more than 60 minutes after waking (1.59 and 1.42, respectively). Similar findings were seen for cancers of the floor of the mouth, palate, and pharynx.

In another study, Muscat and colleagues investigated whether the TTFC after waking increases the risk of lung cancer among 4,775 patients with lung cancer and 2,835 controls who were regular smokers. Compared with participants who smoked their first cigarette more than 60 minutes after waking, individuals who had a TTFC after waking of 31 to 60 minutes had a pack-years-adjusted OR of 1.31, and those who smoked within 30 minutes of waking had an OR of 1.79. These results were similar for all histological types of lung cancer.

"A specific nicotine-dependence phenotype, TTFC, is an independent predictor of lung cancer after adjustment for smoking history," Muscat and colleagues write in the second study.